Thomas was the name of Zheng Qing’s interviewer.
He was a young German man, with golden hair and blue eyes, tall and fair-skinned, with slightly drooping eyelids and sunken eye sockets. His straight nose bridge made his entire face appear more angular. He wore a well-fitting, meticulously crafted suit, paired with a deep red tie and shiny leather shoes, making him look like a successful businessman.
After checking the admission notice, Thomas did not bother Zheng Qing’s family much, but instead suggested that Zheng Qing take him around the city.
Zheng Qing’s parents seemed to have no suspicions at all, and very confidently handed their son over to this stranger.
Standing blankly on the street, Zheng Qing quietly wiped away some sweat as he watched the man in front of him constantly flipping through a map in his hand, and asked, “Mr. Thomas, where would you like to go?”
“I need to figure out how to get to your local market,” Thomas said, frowning and staring at the map in his hand, while counting on his fingers. “At University, you’ll need to start living independently and prepare many things. Also, like in middle school, you’ll need to prepare some basic textbooks, stationery, experimental supplies, and so on. The market has everything, and the shops there will have discounts before school starts, which is very cost-effective for you.”
“But…” Zheng Qing glanced at the huge supermarket behind them, feeling increasingly confused: “Aren’t there stationery stores everywhere on the street? And behind us is Pingyang’s largest warehouse supermarket.”
“Supermarket?” Thomas was stunned, his eyebrows raised high: “Did you used to buy things at this supermarket when you went to school?”
As he spoke, he turned around and carefully examined the bustling large supermarket across the street.
“I usually buy from the stationery store at the school gate,” Zheng Qing’s cowlick stood up, and he explained with little confidence: “I mean, this supermarket has a lot of things, it should have some stationery I need.”
“Where did you go to middle school?” Thomas narrowed his eyes, still carefully examining the supermarket.
“Pingyang No. 1 Middle School, a provincial key school,” Zheng Qing felt a little more confident saying this.
“No, no, no, I mean, where did you actually attend middle school?”
“Right on No. 1 Middle School Road, we just passed by the entrance to my high school.”
“Excuse me, I mean, have you ever attended a rather special school?” Thomas finally turned his head. He looked a bit surprised, gesticulating somewhat comically with the hand holding the map, mumbling, “A special one?”
“No!” Zheng Qing flatly denied: “Unless you count key middle schools as special schools.”
“Could it be that the System has a problem?” Thomas put away the map, took out a phone-like device from his pocket, and scanned it back and forth over Zheng Qing. The machine’s buzzing sound beeped and bopped incessantly as the device moved.
Zheng Qing awkwardly looked around, feeling a bit at a loss.
“No problem!” After a long while of fiddling, Thomas carefully looked at the device in his hand, nodded reassuringly, then shook his head: “Since the person is correct, then it’s another troublesome matter.”
“Troublesome matter?” Zheng Qing seemed a bit nervous, and asked cautiously: “Mr. Thomas, should I tell my parents? Or my grandpa?”
“Oh, no need, no need.” Thomas shook his head repeatedly, looked at Zheng Qing, then at the large envelope in his hand, and sighed: “I just need to find a place to talk to you first… Indeed, being an interviewer is not an easy job… Let’s go to that tea house over there. I don’t like coffee, how about you?”
“Either is fine.” Zheng Qing followed him suspiciously, always feeling that this well-dressed man was like a swindler.
“I suppose you’ve probably never been to a Wizard school, have you?” Thomas asked Zheng Qing with a straight face as they walked towards the tea house.
“Wizard school?” Zheng Qing seemed to freeze for a moment, his voice involuntarily rising a few octaves.
“Wizard school? Are you talking about stories from Harry Potter?” A Little girl of about twelve or thirteen passing by seemed to have heard Zheng Qing’s words and approached him with a fervent look: “I’m a Harry Potter fan too! What are you talking about? Fantastic Beasts? Fantastic Quidditch? A history of Hogwarts? Or The Tales of Beedle the Bard? I have all of those.”
Zheng Qing was startled by this sudden voice, staring wide-eyed at the Little girl with wide glasses on her nose. It took him a while to recover, then he gave a dry laugh and shook his head vigorously. Thomas, on the other hand, looked at the Little girl curiously for a few moments.
Her face flushed, the Little girl mumbled a few words and hopped away.
***
Zheng Qing closed the cover of his pocket watch; twelve minutes and thirty-four seconds had already passed.
He and Thomas were currently sitting in a tea house in the middle section of Pingyang Road, with Thomas sitting opposite him, flipping through a newspaper.
The two had been sitting there for twelve minutes and thirty-four seconds, and Thomas had been continuously flipping through his thick, bulging newspaper.
Zheng Qing held his teacup in both hands, sipping the pale green tea, cautiously peeking at the newspaper opposite him.
On the back of the newspaper was a small news item, with a very eye-catching headline: “Wizard Alliance Committee Expresses Dissatisfaction with Dark Blue Ancient Castle.”
“…At the press conference, Huang Shi, spokesperson for the Wizard Alliance Committee of the Wizard Alliance, revealed that during a recent special operation to crack down on illegal laboratories, abnormal dimensional fluctuations were detected at Dark Blue Ancient Castle. As of the time of reporting, Chief Justice Sam Marshall of the Wizard Court has signed a comprehensive search warrant targeting Dark Blue Ancient Castle… The Wizard Alliance reiterated its concern over dimensional fluctuation experiments and stated that the Alliance will continue to strictly scrutinize unfiled laboratories related to ‘dimensional convergence’…”
He couldn’t understand anything the newspaper was saying.
Zheng Qing watched dejectedly as Thomas put down the newspaper and took out a pen to start writing and drawing.
The two of them just sat there quietly, letting time flow by, the atmosphere a little awkward.
“What are you calculating?” Zheng Qing finally found a topic.
“Odds,” Thomas replied without looking up, calculating as he explained: “The World Cup is already halfway through. Although the Golden Star Team is still in the lead, the Flamingo Team’s momentum is very strong; they have already killed the Wild Demon King first in three consecutive matches. Every few years, such dark horse Hunting Teams appear. If I can bet correctly this time, I can push aside these annoying mundane affairs for the next two years and focus on my multi-dimensional magic Qi fluctuation interference experiments under Mi Garden spatial conditions.”
“Are you talking about sports betting?” Zheng Qing looked at him blankly.
Thomas glanced at him, then continued to bury his head in calculating his odds.
Zheng Qing idly blew ripples into his tea, trying to recall all the strange things he had encountered today, attempting to piece together a suitable conclusion.
After a while, seeing Thomas finally put away the newspaper, Zheng Qing quickly spoke: “I don’t quite understand what you mentioned earlier about a Wizard school.”
Thomas lowered his head, carefully examining the few tea leaves in his cup. Then, frowning, he raised his eyes and scrutinized Zheng Qing opposite him.
Those emerald green eyes made Zheng Qing feel a little familiar.
“You are a Wizard,” he said dryly to Zheng Qing.
